


Destiny

by Shimruto



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Supernatural AU - Freeform, old times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shimruto/pseuds/Shimruto
Summary: Little Taemin always wanted to solve his uncle's secret... but sometimes we have to choose what we wish for more wisely.





	Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> /it started as "wow such a nice idea" but transformed into "do i make sense at all?"/  
> anyway enjoy!

Taemin turned on his stomach enjoying the hot bread rolls he had stolen from the kitchen of his grandmother. He had to be fully prepared for one more night of the important investigation he had started and experiencing hungry collapses were not going to hinder him like on previous nights.

He checked his vision range of the room below him through the split in the floor and hummed in satisfaction. It began to dusk outside but the light from the fireplace was outlining everything perfectly. Nothing would escape his eyes tonight and Taemin would be the first one to solve the mysterious secret of his uncle. His gaze focused on the target of his latest searches.

Yunho was preparing to have a dinner alone and Taemin could not understand for the world why his uncle preferred leading such a reclusive life in the evenings and at the same time being an extremely outgoing person during daytime.

Yunho just returned from his craftshop. He had a very clever pair of hands and was known for his creative skills. He was always busy making the farming tools for the village and occasional beautiful wood handicrafts during his free time that he gave away as presents no matter how much the people around asked him to try to sell it in the big city. He was a very good-looking man – even the scars from the boisterous childhood only reinforced his charms. His heart was kind and generous and his advice was always welcomed. People of all ages were smitten by him.

But still there was something that was warding all the villagers off him. An unspoken shared agreement on keeping certain distance.

This distance rooted back to a mysterious event seven years ago. Taemin was little and did not remember the time everything started but the villagers were recalling that once Yunho went into the forest to collect small timber for his works and returned only after midnight – without any wood and completely shaken. His face – before the embodiment of sunlight – carried the print of something horrible that utterly changed him. He never wanted to talk about what had happened there shutting out all help suggested. He withdrew from social gatherings and started to spend most of his spare time alone or reading a lot of books.

After that every year he disappeared somewhere for several days without a trace only to return as if nothing happened. With time it seemed his demeanor livened up and the villagers stopped asking him about the painful events. One year he even suddenly reverted back to his cheerful self and Taemin started to love sharing time with him in the craftshop.

But their grandmother said that this was only the charade for others – that Yunho was still trying to win a fight against something they had no power of understanding. Taemin believed her only when he started to follow Yunho around and to observe him from his secret spot in the rooftop during evenings. It was a matter of seconds for Yunho when he entered his house to let the control over his face slip and become engrossed in deep thought or look sadder than anyone Taemin had ever seen before. He always spent the time after work alone and never invited anyone into his home… Well except one person.

It was a rumour that Taemin heard sometimes in the tavern when the tired men after work were drunk enough to talk bravely and not to care that a child like him could eavesdrop. They talked that Yunho’s incident was connected to the powers of darkness because somebody saw a stranger with a cane appearing very late at night on days of Yunho’s disappearance. It was a man in a long black coat with a deep hood covering his face all the time. He usually walked through the streets slowly bringing the feeling of entrancement mixed with cold and fear. There was an elusive sound of iron clattering that made you wish to erase the moment of this encounter forever. His path was never altered. Without delays he went straight to Yunho’s house and was always invited in. But never came out. Yunho was nowhere to be found after his visit and no traces of other underground exit were ever discovered in the house which only proved the supernatural forces involved... Usually at this part the women around would shout at their drunk men to stop talking nonsense and kicked them out to go home. But Taemin was always fascinated by this story and secretly in his untiring imagination wished it to be true.  

 

Yunho finished his dinner and was putting more wood into the fire when the sudden knocking disturbed the peace. Taemin almost gasped – it was the first time during his many spying sessions that something out of the ordinary happened. He put the bread rolls aside and glued to the floor split.

Yunho got up quickly. He seemed to be agitated for some reason and after catching his expression in the mirror his whole face flushed even more.

The knocking repeated.

Yunho took several deep breaths and his gaze dropped to the books that were lying near the fireplace. Suddenly his eyes cleared and he ruled his face into the inscrutable mask that brought strange sorrow to Taemin’s heart.

"Who is there?"

"You know who" was the deep answer.

Yunho went slowly to open the door to let a stranger with a cane enter the room. Taemin felt his bones begin frosting from sudden cold – it meant that this man was the rumored stranger the people at the tavern talked about before. Taemin thought he would have been ecstatic to finally see the proof to his speculations but felt only incomprehensible fear.

Yunho sighed and looked at the man as if he wanted to say something but never could find the right words or like the answer.

"It's time, Yunho. You will go with me today"

"I always go with you"

"No... This time is final"

Gone was the usual legerity from Yunho's body. Gone was the constant sparkle from his face. The weight of some burden possessed his shoulders.

"Let's sit for a while…" He went to the table leaving the stranger stand in the middle of the room.

"No, Yunho. You will not find a way out of it this time. Don't drag it anymore."

"You are heartless today... as usual"

"You know I don't have a heart"

Yunho sighed and for a second it seemed that a ghost of a smile played on his lips.

The stranger took his hood off and Taemin saw a face with very beautiful as if marble features. The man was mesmerizing at a glance but there was still something disturbing in his appearance.

"Nobody asked you to break the hourglass"

Yunho chuckled "Who knew that hourglass contained my life time?"

The man growled “That is the problem of humans – you pry into the matters that you do not have a power to understand or control”

“But they were very beautiful – you know that I like to work with wood and that hourglass was captivating in form and lines. I wanted to study the proportions and technic closer…”

“And try to copy it?”

“No! I do not copy things! I take inspiration and try to express myself. That is the main point of people’s hand craft.” Yunho’s passionate explanation died as he turned to face the man. “I thought we spent enough time together during all these years for you to see that”

“Several days a year mean ENOUGH for you?”

The man crossed the room and leaned on the wall clutching his cane in front of him. Taemin almost screamed. The man in front of him was beautiful but the reflection in the mirror was frightening – the bare bones instead of the body and a scythe instead of a cane.

“You taught me a lot during these days” noted Yunho.

“I taught you about my world not art. I was preparing you for the final ritual and even let a glimpse at my work… But you never seemed to be quite interested in all this… ”

“I was!” yelled Yunho but averted his eyes the next second. “It is just…  it was hard to accept the existence of…”

“Grim Reapers?”  smirked the man.  

Yunho was trying to compose himself again. “That and…”

“What?”

Yunho did not answer.

“I devote my time and efforts to you but you are still blinded by the light. Paying attention only to things of your precious living world as if there is no beauty on the other side…”

“There is! There are many magnificent things on your side – the people’s hourglasses alone are ethereal and beautiful…”

“And you treated it so humanlike – damaged the beauty” The Grim Reaper remarked irritated.

“There was no need to frighten me like that – it would not have happened then…”

“But it did!” said the man as if there were more meaning than could be heard. “Though it was the first time when a mortal could see my possessions.”

Yunho flinched at “mortal” description and something deep was starting to break out in his words and expressions.

 “So it was an accident! A mistake from your world – not mine!  Can’t you set me free?”

“Again so humanlike… at first acting carelessly… but when something happens – too frantic in demanding to slip away without a thought about the consequences  and rejecting responsibility for what you have done“ Seemed like the Grim Reaper started to lose his patience. “I fixed the crack and stopped your time from slipping completely. I saved your life! At least be grateful a little!”

Yunho got silent and the stranger shifted his gaze to the fire.

“I never asked” Taemin had to strain all his hearing to catch what Yunho said.

“Yes… never…”

“How much did I have… before that happened…”

The Grim Reaper’s eyes got darker and Taemin could not understand why.

“Is there a point to discuss it now?”

“You said it was not my initial amount of time. It means I had another life to live…”

“There is no other life but the one that awaits you after we finish the ritual”

“The ritual!” exclaimed Yunho. “You are always talking about it! Always trying to finish it all these years but that is not LIFE that awaits me if you proceed with it! You will bind me to you forever and I will have to spend eternity with you! You said that is the only way to save my soul but…”

“But you still do not believe me?” The Grim Reaper groaned. “I used a lot of my powers to seal your hourglass. It was almost impossible but I poured all my energy to do that. Your time was merged with mine during this and I can’t split it in half. You have to go with me for us to finish the ritual or your soul will disappear forever if you die.”

“You suggest going with you so easily” snorted Yunho. “You don’t understand that for me it will be not the beginning of the journey but the end… The moment I agree is the moment I die” 

“The moment you agree is the moment your new existence begins!” snapped the cane man.

They were breathing heavily after this outburst and seeing that Yunho was not going to speak more the Grim Reaper went to the window and looked at the sky.

“You humans always say you fear death… but actually it is the ending of what you have you are afraid of. You always perceive death as something horrible. Something that unfairly deprives you of your happiness. We are viewed as monsters coming to you at the most unwelcomed hour and taking pleasure in robbing you of your soul… But you mistake us for your human assassins who kill people without caring about their fate. We do not enjoy ourselves – this is just our job to collect souls when they reach the end of their time on earth. Sometimes our work is a blessing – we end suffering for people who are sick and old. Not all people meet us with unwelcome expression, Yunho.”

“I know. You showed me.”

“And you hated me for this”

“No. I saw the nature of your obligations… and compassion you provide for the souls.”

“But you do not need my compassion because you have something to lose” The Grim Reaper exhaled. “That is why every year you found the most impossible spells and loopholes in our connection to postpone the ritual”

Taemin did not see the face of the man but could almost swear that there was sorrow in his tone.

“But we always meet the deadlines, Yunho.” The Grim Reaper turned with determined face. “We are never distracted and nothing can persuade us not to do our job. Today we will finish the ritual and you will become a Grim Reaper like me”

“Previous years proved otherwise. You should have changed me long ago but I always found a way to buy a year.”

“Again this arrogance…”

“But it is true! All these years when you took me to the final ceremony I managed to win a year in the end before it was completed.” Yunho rushed to the books near the fireplace. “Listen! I searched hard all the time for ways to stop this…”

“Sure you did!” scoffed the cane man. “A little human trying so passionately to escape”

Yunho’s face darkened.

“Wouldn’t you do the same?”

The Grim Reaper’s face was unreadable and Yunho seemed to get angry at that.

“I mean – you always say that this was an accident and you could have just helped me to break this bond…”

“So you would run around happily being free from me?”

“Don’t we both want it?”

The Reaper’s face finally broke into the discouraged tornado of emotions.

“Am I that despicable to you? That you will go to the end of the world to get rid of me??”

Yunho was startled by this question and lost all his previous spite.

“What are you talking about? You always expressed your full frustration at the situation! Always calling me an incapable human who does not understand a thing! Never listening to my findings…”

“And what exactly should I have done? You always try to escape and build the barriers around yourself! Never even for a second thinking about the path that is slightly connected to me! Pushing yourself to the limit to avoid the ritual even though you know that every year can be the last and your soul will disappear forever!” The Reaper stilled trying to contain his emotions. “Never even asked after my name”

Yunho was now escaping the Reaper’s compelling stare as much as he could.

“You told me your name…”

“Then why have you never used it?” that almost sounded like a life-or-death question.

“It will only complicate everything”

“How can a name complicate anything? It is just a simple name!”

“IT IS PERSONAL” Yunho lost all control over his face. Taemin never saw his uncle as overwrought as he was now. “If I call you by the name – all this would become real and I would not be able to turn back”

“There is no turning back, Yunho!”

“There is! I have done it before and this year will not be different!”

The Grim Reaper suddenly got very still. He took several moments to look around. He studied the pile of books in all corners of Yunho’s house and the simple furniture that showed how little the owner paid attention to his personal needs. He looked at the wood handicraft lying on all possible surfaces and finally looked at Yunho who  was pacing back and forth in the room. The Grim Reaper’s expression softened but his eyes took a shade of firmness as if he made the decision, as if he was ready to accept the most painful choice.

“I found out one more way to postpone this ritual and also heard about the spell that can completely…”

“You can’t”

“What?” Yunho stopped and looked bewilderedly at the man in front of him.

“You can’t, Yunho”

“What nonsense you are talking about? I did…”

“You didn’t”

“What?”

“You can’t postpone it. Never could. It was me.”

“No! I used…”

“It was me every year.” The Grim Reaper’s voice was calm but strong. “I used my powers to postpone your ritual… to buy you another year… I would do that again… but… I can’t anymore. It takes a lot of spiritual energy to go against the natural flow of things and mine is running out. If I do this one more time… I would disappear. Become void. Become nothing.”

Yunho’s face was a mess of emotions. Taemin saw him trying several times to start a sentence but all attempts came to aught. There should have been tension in the room but it felt like it was slipping away and transforming into a sudden closure they needed long ago.

“Why?” Yunho’s voice was cautious.

“Why…” The Reaper sighed. “How many times have I asked the same question myself since we met…”

He almost chuckled if not for the shattered state of his mind and looked Yunho in the eye.

“There was a legend about this kind of connection between humans and Grim Reapers but I never believed it until we met. The bond that was created on that day never let me rest. I wondered how a simple human can be anything close to a pleasant company for centuries to come… but you proved me wrong. You are different from others, Yunho. Your personality and hard work and talent… everything fascinated me and I began to think that to spend the centuries together with someone was not such a bad idea…” He shook his head as if breaking free of an allusion. “But you never stopped your search in cutting that bond. Always so passionate and relentless in severing any connection with me. Never looking at me straight in the eye until to prove me wrong. I could not bare to watch you struggle so much and whirl in aversion and horror at me. So every time I wanted to end the ritual and saw you like that – desperately bombarding me with useless forgotten spells to prevent all from happening – I could not carry it through and gave up a part of my powers for your sake. Pretending that your spells worked I transferred this part to your soul allowing it to last for one more year.”

“You… you did this for me?” The realization hit Yunho but still needed some time to sink in completely.

“Yes… but that does not matter. You are still unwavering in your choice.” The Grim Reaper smiled “I came today to finish it all and to take you with me even if I had to use force… but I see now… There is no other way.”

“No other… way? What does that mean? You said we can’t break the bond.”

“We can’t… But I may at least gift you another year”

“What? But you said you would disappear!”

“Come to think it is not such a bad end…” The Reaper’s look was gentle now and the frostiness Taemin had felt before almost disappeared. “I lived for uncounted centuries but felt and experienced so many things only during the last seven years. This bond must have influenced and enriched me with unique human emotions… No… not this bond… You… So this will be my gratitude to you for all”

And with this he took several resolute steps to the door. Yunho was still in a daze but seeing the man to leave he jerked back into action.

“Wait!”

“Yunho, I’ve said this before – it is better not to drag this out – I have to finish the transfer before the dawn”

“No! Stop!”

The Grim Reaper was about to open the door. “I know only one year is short but you have always accomplished much more than any other people I have known. So please live it diligently and rest assured that our bond will disappear the moment I finish the transfer and you will never have to experience the life of a Grim Reaper.”

“Changmin!”

The Reaper stopped in his tracks. His back went rigid and both of them did not move for a whole minute.

“Why?”

“Changmin…”

The Reaper turned abruptly.

“You called me heartless but that is who you are right now!” Taemin did not see how the Reaper was able to shift so quickly to Yunho and grab him by the collar. “How can you do this to me?”

The Reaper was raging and Taemin feared he was ready to kill his uncle but Yunho was calm as water and was making no attempt to escape Changmin’s wrath.

“You should have said it sooner.”

“What? Sooner? To expose myself and to be mocked for this? To continue being bound to you and see you loathing me even more with every day for this?”

“No! To let me see!”

“See what?”

“The future I never dared to hope for.”

Changmin’s hands suddenly lost all strength and he stepped back from Yunho.

“You are not making sense…”

Yunho was trying to reach him only to see Changmin moving backward every time. He stayed at his place and decided to talk from distance instead.

“There…  in the forest when we met – at first I was completely lost and afraid. The first time you came for me I never hoped to survive the meeting. But you did not kill me that time. You showed me your world and through this I saw you. The real you. Not a cold death coming for harvest but a sympathizing Reaper who supported and comforted the souls after their living end. Always helping them to choose the right path and to ease their sufferings. You showed me the dark side awaiting me but I saw you as my light there. But… the bond….” Yunho’s voice cracked a little. “You were always talking about it – always emphasizing how uncomfortable and unnatural it was. I thought you saw me as a revolting human you would have to spend centuries with and after some time I decided to find a way out. I did not want to feel or see you being disgusted with my presence… I did not want to look unwelcomed… not in your eyes… I wanted you to let me stay not because of the ritual but because you wanted it yourself”

Yunho took a step forward. Changmin did not move.

“You…”

“The days you came after me… I liked them – always looked forward to them like crazy… I should be crazy! I have so many living people around me but my only wish is your company… forever”

He took another step.

“Yunho…”

“I want to carry the ritual till the end!”

Yunho’s whole aura was emitting so much determination that Taemin forgot for a moment about the deadly meaning of this request.

“I…”

“Please, Changmin! I think we waited long enough already.”

And with this the Reaper took a step to Yunho who moved forward too. They studied each other’s faces as if for the first time.

“You once said that Death is not choosing a time or a place. I think that means that Death is in reality Destiny. And I’ve never regretted that I changed my Destiny by breaking that hourglass myself”

Taemin could not move – his whole body was paralyzed by the power of the spiritual outburst that happened after that. He came to his senses and found no traces of Yunho or his acquaintance in the room.

 

 

Next day the whole village tried to find Yunho sending little groups of people everywhere. They spent a lot of time on searches but all in vain. The villagers did not want to believe Taemin at first but with time had to accept the truth of never seeing Yunho again.

 

 

They say that many years passed after that but when the lone travellers wandered into the only tavern in the village and asked after the fate of the talented woodcarver – they heard the only sentence in return.

“He received a kiss of Death”

**Author's Note:**

> the comments are very appreciated... really!


End file.
